Baylor Contest To Decide Top Student Sales Champs

Students from 19 American universities with major sales programs will get a chance to demonstrate their selling skills during a unique contest March 15-17 at Baylor University.

The third annual National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC), sponsored by Baylor's Center for Professional Selling, will present students from the nation's finest collegiate sales programs with "the most challenging sales call they'll ever make," predicts Dr. Terry Loe, Baylor marketing professor and contest director. Judging the effectiveness of their performance at the Hankamer School of Business will be sales professionals who will watch the "sales call" on video screens in an adjoining room.

The students will participate in two separate presentations -- one to sell a product, the other a service. They will sell the Day-Timer Personal Organizational System in the first round and in the second round they will sell the FedEx Home Delivery Service.

"The championship round will consist of the top three scorers from the first two rounds (combined scores), so there will be only three students in the championship round," Loe said. "Everyone will be able to observe the championship round in Kayser Auditorium (at the Hankamer School of Business) at around 4 p.m. on Saturday."

An awards banquet will be held 7 p.m. Saturday night at the Blume Conference Center on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Building at Hankamer.

Loe said the contest has attracted a total of about 50 students from top college sales programs, along with prominent university professors who teach and conduct research in sales.

The 19 schools represented at the contest will include Baylor, Ball State University, Bowling Green State University, Florida State University, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Northern Illinois University, Purdue University, University of Akron, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Central Florida, University of Georgia, University of Houston, University of Louisville, University of Minnesota at Mankato, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, University of Toledo, and Western Carolina University.

Loe said executives from the sponsoring companies will participate in the contest as judges and also as buyers. Visiting professors also will participate as judges.

He added, "The NCSC is like the College Baseball World Series -- the best collegiate sales programs in the country compete for top honors for collegiate selling."

The contest will get underway Thursday evening, March 15, with a reception for the participants, followed by opening ceremonies Friday morning. A mini job fair will be held in conjunction with the contest, offering contestants an opportunity to learn about employment prospects with the corporate sponsors.

A number of job offers in sales for participating students resulted from last year's contest, Loe pointed out. "Corporate sponsors are on hand to 'scout' those college prospects, not unlike professional scouts who assess the best talent at the College World Series," he said.